Yukatas, Dragon Boats, and 1000 Cranes

On August 7, they celebrate Tanabata, the Festival of the Stars, in Sendai, Japan. While I was a missionary in Sendai, we had an investigator whose father owned a kimono shop. He made both my companion and me special yukatas (summer kimonos made out of cotton) which were hand painted with designs like the beautiful paper decorations that they hang above the streets for the Tanabata Festival. Sister missionaries don't usually wear kimonos, but we got special permission to wear them for only one hour. Here we are in the yutakas that were made especially for us. Pictured below from left to right: Me, our investigator, my companion Linda Stoddard, and a member of the Sendai Branch who went with us.

We had only walked one block when a man rushed up to me and said, "Hold my baby, so I can take your picture with her." I wonder who he thought I was.
After the second block, we were interviewed by a radio station. After the 3rd block, a reporter from the local newspaper took our picture, and after the 4th block a television station photographed us and we ended up being on the TV news. I have no idea why all the media was so interested in us, but it sure was fun.

Here's our photo as it appeared in the newspaper. Translated it says, "The Casual Kimono Style is very fitting. In paper and bamboo. . .they're pretty, aren't they?
Here are more photos of the decorations that go on for 8 blocks. Above is Sister Stoddard talking to some girls. In this photo you can see how long these decorations really are in comparison to the people below.

Did you notice the Coca Cola sign?

About the same time that Tanabata was in Sendai, the missionaries went with some of the members to Matsushima (it means Pine Islands). We rode on boats that were shaped liked dragons as they wended their way between many beautiful pine covered islands.

The photo below shows how Matsushima looks with all of its tiny pine covered islands.

After I got home from Japan and I was living in Billings, Montana, the owners of a Japanese restaurant were celebrating the 1st birthday of the their 1st child. A friend of mine was invited to the birthday party, so I decided to make a present that most people in Japan will never get. I folded 1000 cranes in one week's time as a birthday present for the child. I could fold 100 cranes in 6 hours if I wasn't interrupted, so you can see that it was a BIG project. Since I had to finish in one week, I was working every spare moment that I had and then I strung them together in Tanabata fashion. It took over 50 hours to make. I was still putting this together one hour before my friend was to go to the party. As you can tell, I had an oriental living room when I lived in Billings.

One thousand cranes are a symbol of long life and good luck. Jon told me that when the mom saw the gift she started crying and was totally surprised to receive such a gift. She didn't even know me. I just wanted to do something that would be totally unexpected.

(For those of you who know me, you know how I like to do unusual things, and giving something anonymously is even more fun.)

I Can't Believe that Someone Didn't Call the Police!

The Japanese members of the Church always liked to ask the full-time missionaries to put on special programs for them. Plus, the missionaries liked doing it because it was a fun break from everyday proselyting. When I was in Sendai, Japan, the summer of 1968, the missionaries were asked to put on a special 24th of July program, so Elder Peterson our District leader, decided to let the members have a glimpse of what pioneer life was really like. The skit was to take place in the dirt lot which was in front of the old pink building where we attended church. We affectionately called it the Pink Barn.

The elders spent a week making the log cabin, seen below, out of cardboard and in preparing for the skit. Here are the members, on July 24, 1968, calmly waiting for our program to begin. They had no idea what they were in for.

Elder Peterson talked the local junk man out of his cow and wagon for the night, so Sister Stoddard and I rode in on the wagon and Elder Peterson, our "dad for the night," led the cow into the church yard.
Elder Peterson rented a 45 revolver and here he is doing some of his fancy quick draws for the members. He was actually very adept at handling a gun, but remember we are "missionaries."

As the skit progressed, my companion and I fixed our dad dinner. We didn't have anything for costumes, so I had the idea of copying "The Sound of Music," so we used the green and white curtains from the church for our skirts and I used a paper bag to make a bonnet. I am sorry I am wearing the "bonnet" because you can't see my face, but I really was there.

Then our dad left his daughters (us) alone, so guess what happened?

Of course, the Indians attacked! Bloodcurdling war hoops startled the poor Japanese members, and out of the shadows came Elder McNeil with a flaming arrow to set the cabin on fire! (As this progressed, I was beginning to wonder if flaming arrows were against the fire code in the city of Sendai.)

Two more Indians (elders) appeared torching the cabin again and taking my companion and I captive.

Then they tied Sister Stoddard and me to the stake.

Then the Indians did something that my companion and I didn't plan on. They had soaked a rope in kerosene and then they lit it on fire. The flames were just a little bit too close for comfort and as we were encircled by flames, I got an idea of how the pioneers really had felt. I was hoping the flames wouldn't spread and that I would live to see my parents again.

Three Indians did a war dance around us while we were encircled by flames. (At this point the members were shocked. ) They thought that the Elders were being really mean to us, but then Elder Peterson, our dad, appeared with his gun, scared the Indians away, and put out the fire.

It was all really great fun and a skit like this will probably never be seen again

by the Japanese saints.

In Sendai, Japan, July 24, 1968, will go down in infamy;

and it will always be one of my favorite memories.

Found--After Looking for 30 Years!

When I moved from Montana, I lost my address book, and so I lost touch with all of my Japanese friends and companions from when I was on my mission. I have wanted to contact them again for 30 years. On June 18, 2010, I went to the Japan Market in downtown Salt Lake City. I asked the store owner, who is Japanese, if she could order some new koto picks for me, so I could start playing my koto again. She said that she didn't know where to get koto picks, but that there was a flyer on her bulletin board about a koto teacher in the area. A koto is a Japanese musical instrument that is made out of wood, has 13 strings, and is 6 feet long and about 1 foot wide. See the photo below of me playing my koto when I got home from my mission:

The next day I called the Koto teacher and went to her house to see if she had koto picks that would fit me. While there, I told her about the people in Japan that I wanted to find. On June 20, she emailed me the phone number for Kyoko Kubo Tanaka, one of my companions that I wanted to find. The Koto teacher is from Sendai, but she emailed a friend in Osaka, and that person happened to know Kyoko Shimai who is actually living in Takarazuka, a city that is at least 2 hours away from Osaka. I had been looking for 30 years and in less than 48 hours I had Kyoko's phone number! How incredible is that!

Naturally, I called her the moment I had her phone number. I was weeping because I was so overjoyed to hear her voice after all this time. Below is a photo of when Kyoko Shimai and I were companions in Tokyo North Branch. Tokyo North Branch is now Nakano Ward and that very same Chapel is now a stake center.

Kyoko Shimai told me that she had the address and phone number for Setsuko Okuda, another one of my very dear companions that I had been trying to find. Setsuko Shimai was my last companion at Tokyo South Branch before I went home. Below is a photo of Setsuko and me with one of our investigators on her baptism day. This chapel is now Senzokuike Ward. I love this chapel because it has an atrium in the center of the chapel. I wept again when I called Setsuko. It was so great to hear her voice. She is now living in Placerville, California. I can hardly wait to go visit her.
I was so excited to find Kyoko and Setsuko, but I still needed to find Linda Stoddard. I knew her at BYU before I went on my mission, and them unbelievably, 6 months later, she was called to serve a mission in Japan. Kyoko Kubo and I were companions in North Tokyo for 6 1/2 months and then I was transferred to Sendai where Linda Stoddard and I became companions. After years of searching directory assistance and Dex white pages. on June 27, in despiration I simply typed her married name, Linda Stoddard Frizzell, in the Google search window, and to my amazement it brought up a paragraph from the Hawthorne California High School blog, where I found that she and her husband were living in Mount Hood, Oregon. I emailed the webmaster a 1:00 a.m. and 10 minutes later he emailed me back with her contact information.

Here is a photo of her acting as a pioneer in our infamous 24th of July skit that we put on for the members. In my next posts, I will tell you more about the skit and Sendai.

Then on Monday, June 28, at 9:00 a.m. I received a phone call from Makoto Shiriaishi who is presently living in Japan. I met Makoto and Michiko when I went to Toyko Central Branch, but then they both came to Provo for Makoto to attend BYU. Makoto and Michiko were like part of our family. We were always talking and getting together. When Camille was 14 months old, we invited the Shiraishis to spend Christmas with my parents in Price. Here is a photo of Makoto helping Camille learn how to walk.
Today, I just talked briefly on the phone to Michiko, but I will call and talk longer to her tomorrow morning. Here Michiko is having Camille try on a little pink kimono that she made for Camille for Christmas 1981. This photo was also taken at my parents home in Price.
Last April I went to the Northern Far East Missionary Reunion. Unlike previous reunions I have been to, I saw many of my old missionary friends. I also came into contact with Kathleen Elder, who was my first companion and many other elders. Unfortunately, I did not take my camera, so I have so photos of them. Through the NFEM web site, I was also able to contact another dear companion, Janet Lang Demarco. She is now living in Las Vegas. Here is a photo of Janet and me as I was being transferred to Osaka. Janet and I are actually cousins. We have the same great grandfather, Hans Ulrich Bryner. What are the odds of that happening? Going on a mission and then having a cousin and a former friend from BYU as companions.

I feel most blessed to have found and actually talked to 5 former missionary companions and one very dear family, the Shiraishis, in such a very short period of time when I have been searching for them for 30 years. I feel like it was downright miraculous and I feel very blessed.